Fractional property investment manager DomaCom has launched an equity release product aimed at attracting allocations from the SMSF sector.
DomaCom Senior Equity Release allows asset-rich but cash-poor individuals to sell a percentage of their home to an investor via one of the wealth manager’s funds.
Under the scheme, retirees can receive the investors’ money either as a lump sum or in the form of an income stream. The title of the property is retained by the retiree so they can choose to continue to live in the premises or can rent it out if needed. In addition, the retiree has the option of buying back the equity in the property at any time at either the current value of the property or the initial purchase price indexed to the market.
If the property is eventually sold, the retiree receives the residual sale price and the investors are allocated their percentage of the proceeds.
The offering was released to the market in May.
DomaCom chief executive Arthur Naoumidis described the product as a perfect fit for SMSFs.
“SMSFs are a natural choice for this because it would be the situation of the accumulation segment of the market funding the pension-phase part of the market and both are growing,” Naoumidis noted.
“The statistic we’ve heard is that fully funded, the equity release needs of retirees in the next five years is about $30 billion.
“In the coming years there will be about $1 trillion in SMSFs. Can $1 trillion fund $30 billion? Of course it can. It only requires a 3 per cent asset allocation toward this sector.”
He predicted it was most likely to be family groups who showed an interest in the funding of equity release schemes as opposed to large institutions, further suggesting the investment opportunity looms large for the SMSF sector.
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